OTTAWA — A small gathering of the House of Commons is in the process of negotiating a bill to deliver aid to Canadians affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Parliamentarians decided to recall the House for an emergency meeting in order to pass legislation needed to implement a number of measures announced by the government last week.
Those measures include a $27-billion aid package aimed at people whose livelihoods have been disrupted by the virus and will be doled out to families via two EI-like benefits of up to $900 bi-weekly for up to 14 weeks for non-EI eligible workers who have been laid off or to those without sick benefits, as well as increases to the Canada Child Benefit, GST, and $55 billion to meet liquidity needs of Canadian businesses and households through tax deferral.
The measures also include funding for vulnerable populations — such as $305 million for a new Indigenous Community Support Fund and a six-month, interest-free halt on federal student loan payments.
The bill was tabled by Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Tuesday and members quickly suspended the sitting to negotiate the bill's finer points.
Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who will not be in the House due to being in self-isolation while his wife recovers from COVID-19, urged opposition parties to quickly pass the legislation for the benefit of all Canadians.
“When you’re trying to help get money out to people, speed is of the essence, especially in an unprecedented situation like this one,” he said.
“I believe in our democratic institutions, all of us in Parliament must work together and Canadians need to see us doing just that.”
Initially, all opposition parties had agreed to co-operate to pass the legislation. However, late Monday a draft version of the bill included unprecedented, temporary powers related to raising, spending and repealing taxes up until 2021 without the approval of Parliament.
On Monday evening, Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer released a statement saying the Conservatives will not give the government unlimited power to raise taxes without a parliamentary vote.
“We will authorize whatever spending measures are justified to respond to the situation, but we will not sign a blank cheque,” he said.
Soon after, government House leader Pablo Rodriguez tweeted that after consulting with the opposition, government agreed to bring changes to the draft legislation and Tuesday morning Trudeau confirmed the legislation would be tabled without that clause.
During deliberations Tuesday afternoon, Scheer sent out another statement saying there are several aspects of the government’s legislation that are undemocratic and removing one of them does not solve the problem.
“There is a simple solution: if the government tables a bill focused on the relief the rime Minister has announced to date Conservatives are ready to pass it quickly,” he said.
Although those meeting in the House of Commons number just over 30, MPs present are proportional to the current party standings. Fredericton MP Jenica Atwin travelled to Ottawa to be present for the Green Party. The government will need multi-party support to pass the legislation.
More to come
